CEI Women’s Business Center Launches Portland Office to Serve Southern Maine’s Diverse Female Entrepreneurs

Caption: Sarah Guerette, Director, CEI Women’s Business Centers; Diane Sturgeon, District Director for the Maine District Office, U.S. Small Business Administration; Betsy Biemann, CEO, Coastal Enterprises, Inc. (CEI); Grace Mo-Phillips, Program Director, CEI Women’s Business Center South celebrate the grand opening of the CEI Women’s Business Center South at CEI’s office at the Marine Trade Center in Portland, Maine. March 15, 2022 (Portland, ME) – The CEI Women’s Business Center (WBC) announces the grand opening of the CEI Women’s Business Center South (CEI WBC South), CEI’s third center focused on female and femme/feminine-identifying entrepreneurs* who want to start or grow their own business in Maine.

Good Jobs as a Stepping Stone to an Equitable Economic Future

The CEI Good Jobs Framework The pandemic jolted the U.S. economy, which today is 5.7 million jobs smaller in size than at its peak in February 2020. Employers are recruiting and retaining workers in a changed landscape, where in addition to the virus, the quality of jobs is driving decisions to stay at or return to a place of employment.

CEI Releases 2021 Impact Report: Helping Entrepreneurs Build Pandemic-Resilient Businesses, Growing 400+ Jobs

November 18, 2021 – Brunswick, Maine — Coastal Enterprises, Inc. (CEI) reported its 2021 impact, a look at how its combined economic development tools—business financing and advice, financial coaching and policy advocacy—helped entrepreneurs like Sara Rademaker of American Unagi in Waldoboro, Leslie Clark of Portland Recovery Community Center, Miranda Taylor of Taylor’s Tots in Canton, and Tawnya Clough of Mosher Seafood in Farmington, launch and grow their businesses through the myriad of challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.